The Greatest Ships

USS Monitor was among the coastal and river going vessels not designed for the sea (as her sinking surely proved) and she was commissioned in February 1862. HMS Warrior was the first ocean going iron hulled vessel and was commissioned in August 1861 so she was the first in all respects that count save one. USS Monitor was the first ship to have an armored revolving turret - a feature that was of course to make all the difference in the world.
 
There have been a number of ships over the years that have stood out for their radical approach to a problem. Some of these ships are each in turn responsible for a massive change in thinking of the worlds Navies.
 
Last week I toured the USS Texas, which is a WW1-era battleship. It was modernized for WW2, and served in both the ETO and the PTO.

The USS Texas took on Ranger casualties from Point du Hoc, and my father's LCM motored past her on the way to their 6th-wave appointment on green beach, Iwo Jima.
 
Zucchini said:
Excluding weapons delivered by airplanes and submarines, ship to ship, what weapon inflicted the most damage during WWII?

My hunch is ship-to-ship torpedoes.

Depends on damage to what. The big BBs of the US Navy ended up being premier artillery support for amphibious landings in the Pacific theatre. The damage they did to beach and inland defenses is probably far greater than the damage that torpedoes inflicted on other ships. But then again, right now I'm jus' shootin' off at the mouth, and I really have no idea what I'm talking about... I think!

Dean.
 
I would say the Bizmarck. I mean the British sent significant portion of her fleet to sink the ship. One on one I don't think the Bizmarck could be matched.
 
Withdraw my answer. I believe The Heavy Cruiser Prinz Eugen of the Kriegsmarine. (German Navy). Was one of the greatest ships ever built.
 
My choices are from earth 18th to Present day.

HMS Victory
USS Constitution
USS Monitor/CSS Virginia
HMS Dreadnaught
IJN Mogami class (best heavy cruiser of WWII)
IJN Yamoto class
HMS Waspite
USS Iowa Class
USS Essex Class
USS Nimitz Class
USS Ticonderoga Class
 
Some of my favorite ships are the aircraft carriers. The USS Ronald Reagan is pretty amazing being the longest and largest carrier in the United States. (due to a 5 foot extention on the bow underewater)

Also the Hornet (I'm pretty sure it was the hornet, correct me if I'm wrong though) deserves some recognition because it launched several Mitchels from its flimsy wooded deck to bomb Japan. The Mitchel is way to big to really be carrier based but somehow they made it work.

The USS Constitution also was a great ship. Never was boarded and of course not sunk due to the fact that it is still here today. Also it was a very fast ship for its time.

The HMS Victory. I think it had around 100 guns. Such a large and poweful ship needs to be recognized.

The Monitor destroyed the...ummmm... Merimack I want to say. I'm not sure though. Monitor had 2 guns on a swivel and the Merimack had a 11 gun broadside. It was some new technology being put to use that we still use today. Of course now our guns are a bit bigger and better.

Enterprise has already been mentioned, but it was all over the place. A very decorated ship as well.

There have been many other ships as well that made a place in history. I just don't know about all of them so this is all I can think of for now.
 
MightyMacbeth said:
who wouldnt agree with TITANIC ?

Not to be rude but the Titanic sunk due to the incompetance of those on board and the people on board a ship make it was it is. T'was a big one though.
 
What about the great eastern?

20041231Great_Eastern490.jpg


GREATEASTERNKABELGROSS.jpg
 
danthepirate said:
MightyMacbeth said:
who wouldnt agree with TITANIC ?

Not to be rude but the Titanic sunk due to the incompetance of those on board and the people on board a ship make it was it is. T'was a big one though.

Thats true, but the TITANIC was a flawed designed as well. The Watertight compartments only extended to 'E' Deck and not all the way up the ship. The result was that as the damaged compartments flooded the water, they spilled over into the next compartment which in turn began to flood. A basic domino effect. Had they designed the ship correctly the ship would have survived mostly likely survived..

Why Andrews (the deseigner) didnt forseethis rather obvious error we will never know, he went down with his ship.
 
mmarsh said:
danthepirate said:
MightyMacbeth said:
who wouldnt agree with TITANIC ?

Not to be rude but the Titanic sunk due to the incompetance of those on board and the people on board a ship make it was it is. T'was a big one though.

Thats true, but the TITANIC was a flawed designed as well. The Watertight compartments only extended to 'E' Deck and not all the way up the ship. The result was that as the damaged compartments flooded the water, they spilled over into the next compartment which in turn began to flood. A basic domino effect. Had they designed the ship correctly the ship would have survived mostly likely survived..

Why Andrews (the deseigner) didnt forseethis rather obvious error we will never know, he went down with his ship.


true true. The people on the ship crashed it and it had design flaws. All of this lead to it being sunk.
 
The SS Great Britain is a unique survival from Victorian times - the world’s first purpose-built iron hulled, propeller-driven steam passenger liner, and the only surviving nineteenth century example of the type. When launched in 1843 she was twice the tonnage of any previous ship and her revolutionary design was the turning point in the development of ships and international transport. She combined a host of unique features which had a seminal influence on virtually all modern ships, such as water-tight bulkheads, a balanced rudder, and iron lifeboats.


The ship is one of the major works of one of Britain’s foremost engineers - IK Brunel, and is a monument to the boldness of 19th century technical and commercial design. She played a key role in worldwide mass emigration, carrying thousands of emigrants to the USA and to Australia and is the only surviving troopship from the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny. She was rescued from the Falkland Islands in 1970 and has been undergoing restoration in Bristol. Today she is the only ship in the world that survives in the dry dock that was built specifically for her design and construction. A major conservation programme, aimed at long term preservation of the ship’s original iron hull structure, is currently being developed with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund.
 
SS Great Britain was also the first ship to lay a cable across the Atlantic Ocean from Britain to America. For the first time a telegraph message could be sent between them.

Sorry, Sandy, although IJS Yamato and IJS Musashi were the biggest battleships ever built and technical wonders of their age, they never accomplished a thing except to be very big targets for the US fleet. I'll acknowledge their listing here as great ships because of their size and design, but not for any other reason.
 
Sorry Charge it was the Great Eastern that laid the cable across the Atlantic not the Great Britain all though they were both built and designed by the same man. When Brunel built the Great Britain he designed his own version of the propeller to drive the ship. Test have since proved that this design is 95% efficient, not bad from a design of the top of your head and with any tank tests.
 
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